students tracing another student lying on the floor

7th Grade Team Cross-Curricular Maze Runner Unit

Recently 7th graders at PCMS engaged in a highly successful cross-curricular unit based on the novel The Maze Runner. In English class, students kicked off the unit by engaging in many cross-curricular ‘challenges’ to narrow down to the top two ‘runners’ for each class. Students not only read the novel, but worked through all elements of fiction and bolstered  reading comprehension through the use of this engaging, high interest text. Notably, students used a survival pack to demonstrate their understanding, and engaged in a ‘Character Autopsy’ of their favorite character.  

In Science, students delved into and created "Biomes" that helped to strengthen the understanding that setting and environment play an important role in any text. 

In History, students were able to discuss the maps and code-breaking that are used in the novel, as well as how that same principle was applied during wartime. 

In Math, incorporating characters into word problems just added to the excitement and relevance of the novel. We even tied in Art and had students create "zentangles" to form their own maze. 

Students finished the unit with a culminating full day activity, “Maze Runner Trials." The runners from each class block competed with each other as a team to earn the most points in order to lead their class block to victory. Runners earned points in various ‘minute-to-win-it’ style games, whole-class dodge-ball, and most importantly, trivia from the novel. The winning team earned prize and earned their entire class block a reward.

See more pictures of this great event on Facebook.